FAA abruptly lifts order halting El Paso flights; Trump official says Defense Dept. disabled Mexican cartel drones

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights in and out of El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days starting Wednesday morning, citing "special security" instructions — and then lifted the order hours later.A Trump administration official said the Department of Defense disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace and that there was no threat to commercial air travel currently."The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted," the FAA said in a post on X. "There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal."The airport sits next to Biggs Army Airfield and is near the Mexican border, about 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico. The Pentagon referred a question about the nature of the security issue to the FAA.Flights were initially halted until late Feb. 20 and the ban applied to a 10-nautical-mile area around the airport. The FAA hadn't immediately disclosed what the security reasons for the temporary sudden halt were or why it was set for so long. While the FAA regularly halts flights at airports for weather, traffic or even rocket launches, a security issue is highly unusual, as is announcing such a long effective airspace closure.U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat whose district includes much of El Paso, said the move to suddenly close airspace was "unprecedented" and said that "what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning, there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.""There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations," she said in a statement. "We have urged the FAA to immediately lift the Temporary Flight Restrictions placed on the El Paso area." The airport served nearly 3.5 million people in the first 11 months of 2025 and is served by Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, according to airport data.There were 1,314 departures scheduled for the El Paso airport this month, according to aviation-data firm Cirium, including about 40 departures on Wednesday.Southwest has 23 flights scheduled at the airport, out of more than 3,000 systemwide. The airline said Wednesday it is resuming operations to and from El Paso and encouraged travelers to check its website for updated information."Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of its Customers and Employees," it said.United said it didn't cancel any flights and that it canceled an earlier travel waiver.Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inboxGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

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